Carrot Cupcakes

Spring means carrot cake right? Or at least Easter means carrot cake! If you ask me, carrot cake is acceptable all year long. My kids make Andy and I a carrot cake every year for our anniversary in September because our wedding cake was a carrot cake. I LOVE ME SOME CARROT CAKE!! Does your Easter or Spring celebration include carrot cake? Ours does. Is it even Easter Sunday without it?

Let me wax poetic about carrot cake for a moment. First of all, it has some depth to it. It is not your standard light white fluffy cake, which, if I am being honest, kinda gets stuck in my throat. Not a very pretty mental picture but there you have it. You can have a moist carrot cake without it being too heavy and dense but not so fluffy that it is falling apart. Also, who doesn’t need a little more cinnamon and nutmeg in their life? And carrots! We need more desserts with vegetables, right? Plus, creamy, tangy cream cheese frosting on top of the carrot cake full of those comforting spices, it just makes me happy. Good food does that.

I recently tried something new with my carrot cake the other day by using olive oil instead of vegetable oil. A couple weeks ago I did a tasting with a company called Cobram Estates where I learned about all the amazing benefits of cooking, baking, and all around consumption of extra virgin olive oil. I knew it was good for you before, but now I know a whole lot more. (They are not paying me to say this, I just really like their brand and always support brands I like!) The whole family agreed that they were just as delicious with olive oil. We were all fans! You can hardly tell a difference, and they were still SO good. I will be trying more of by baking recipes with olive oil in the future.

Tips: You can double this recipe and use it to make two 9 inch round cakes. (Anniversary cake previously mentioned:) You’ll also need to double the cream cheese frosting recipe if your plan is to make the cakes. I use a food processor to shred the carrots. You can shred them by hand but the food processor is much faster.

Print

Carrot Cupcakes

These carrot cupcakes are moist and delicious smeared with cream cheese frosting perfect for your Spring or Easter celebration.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword carrot cupcakes

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Servings 12

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (6.25 ounces)
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¾ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• ⅛ tsp cloves
• ¼ tsp kosher salt
• ½ lb medium carrots (3-4) peeled and shredded
• ¾ cup sugar (5.25 ounces)
• ¼ cup packed light brown sugar (1.75 ounces)
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cup olive oil or vegetable oil

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz cream cheese softened to room temperature
• 5 Tbsp butter softened to room temperature
• 3 tsp sour cream
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 1 ¼ cup powdered sugar (4.5 ounces)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin tin with baking cups. If you are doubling this recipe to make two nine inch round cakes, grease and flour them both.

2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in a medium bowl. In a food processor, using the fine shredding disk, shred the carrots. You should have about 1 ½ cups.

3. In the bowl of a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the sugars and eggs on medium-high until combined. Reduce to medium and while the mixer is running, add the oil in a slow, steady stream, pouring it on the side of the bowl to avoid splattering. When the oil is all added, increase the speed to high and mix until it is well emulsified. This should take about one minute and the color will be a bit lighter.

4. Turn off the mixer and stir in the carrots and dry ingredients by hand until well combined.

5. Using a medium ice cream scoop, place a scoopful into prepared muffin tin. Bake for 15 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting. If you are making the round cakes, bake for 30-40 minutes. For cakes, allow to cool for about 30 minutes and then invert on a wire rack to continue cooling.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Mix the cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanilla with a hand mixer until combined. Add the sugar and mix for about one minute until smooth and fluffy. Frost when the cupcakes or cakes are completely cool. Enjoy!